Where’s the (contaminated) beef?

The USDA just announced the recall of “approximately 50,100 pounds of ground beef products.”

If you’ve bought ground beef in the Southeastern U.S. at Bi-Lo or Winn-Dixie recently, you need to check this out [PDF].

The recall came after government food inspectors found E. coli O157:H7 in the meat. There are all sorts of E. coli, some benign, some nasty, but O157:H7 is a vicious, sometimes deadly, strain. Children are especially vulnerable. As of this writing, there have been no confirmed illnesses.

The recall came from National Beef Packing, of Liberal, Kan.

While 50,100 pounds of ground beef is a disgustingly huge amount (more than enough to sculpt a cube three stories high), there have been much bigger recalls. Which makes me wonder: Does anyone know what they do with all that meat after a recall?

Correction: This is not enough beef to sculpt into a three-story cube, as I originally wrote. it’s more like a ten-foot cube–or enough to completely fill a small studio apartment. Apologies for my math goof.